Broken window in a rented home: who pays for it?

Article 7:240 of the Dutch Civil Code states that minor repairs are at the tenant's expense. Which jobs those are is set out in the Minor Repairs Decree, with an annex naming them one by one.

That annex includes replacing damaged panes and built in mirrors, as long as no significant costs are involved. That last part is where almost every dispute sits.

The decree cannot be departed from to the tenant's detriment. If your tenancy agreement says all glass damage is yours, that clause does not hold up to that extent.

The law does not name an amount. The thinking behind it is that small, everyday repairs belong to the tenant and that real work belongs to the landlord.

Having an ordinary pane put back in an internal door is small work. A large facade unit, laminated safety glass or insulating glass three floors up with a cherry picker in front of it is not. Once you reach an amount you have to think about, it is no longer a minor repair.

If you and your landlord cannot agree, you can take it to the Huurcommissie. They publish the policy manual containing the list of minor repairs, so you can read in advance what they look at.

If you did not break the pane yourself, the picture changes. Damage caused by a storm or by a defect in the property is something the landlord has to repair, even when it arose through no fault of theirs.

Report it in writing, with photos and a date. A message on your phone is evidence, an email is better evidence.

If the window was smashed during a burglary, report it to the police. Insurers nearly always ask for that, and it helps in the conversation with your landlord too.

With most insurers, glass sits under the buildings cover. With some, glass damage is included in the buildings policy as standard; with the rest it is cover you switch on separately. There is usually no excess on glass damage.

As a tenant you normally have no buildings insurance, because that belongs to the owner. If you want cover yourself, glass can be added to your contents policy. The Dutch Consumers' Association sets out the differences between insurers.

Practical order: your landlord first, then your insurer, then the glazier. Unless it is raining or unsafe, in which case you board it up first and sort the rest afterwards.

In homes, safety glass is prescribed in doors and windows up to 1400 mm above floor level, to prevent serious injury. That requirement comes from NEN 3569.

NEN 3569 itself is not directly designated in the Buildings Environment Decree, but NEN 2608 is, and that standard requires that flat glass does not lead to disproportionate injury. In practice glaziers use NEN 3569 as the guideline.

For you it comes down to one question for the glazier: is safety glass going in, and if not, why not. Plain float glass in a garden door is cheaper and breaks into shards that cut badly.